I just wanted to visit a gallery
by Strange-fighter
Summary: Cecilia Monroe goes to Guertena's latest gallery with her best friend, little did she know that things take a turn for the worst and teh artworks beauty isn't the only thing on her mind. ( oc centric )
1. Chapter 1

Green eyes flitted across the painting in front of them, trying to take in every detail of the masterpiece. The owner of these eyes found that this particular piece was their favorite out of the entire gallery. It didn't exactly catch their attention right away, considering that their thoughts were currently occupied with something other than the artwork, but the longer they looked at it the more they grew to like it. The painting was simply titled 'Selfless Guard' and everything blended together well.

The pair of eyes glanced to their left to see what their friend was currently occupied with. The petite ginger haired girl was currently looking between the coughing man and her notebook which she furiously scribbled in. This girl's name was Sophia Grant and she was an art major at the nearby college. The owner of the green eyes was Sophia's best friend Cecilia Monroe, and she was drug by her friend to this art gallery. Not that she was complaining, even though Cecilia wasn't an art major she absolutely _loved_ art galleries.

Cecilia tapped her friends shoulder, earning a startled squeak from her. Sophia turned her hazel eyes toward her friend and gave her a disapproving look. Cecilia gave her an apologetic smile and spoke up " Sorry about that but I thought it would be nice to inform you that I am currently in need to empty my bladder and I'll be back".

Sophia shook her head at her friend " Okay just...try not to surprise me like that, Ceil. You know that I startle easy".

" And I am dearly sorry about that Sophie but if you'll excuse me I need to find a restroom".

Sophia dismissed her friend and went back to the painting. Cecilia walked towards the nearest restroom and to take care of her business. She sadly had to wait in line, and she started to feel like she would burst. When it was finally her turn she rushed to a stall. After everything was taken care of she went to wash her hands, the lights abruptly shut off leaving Cecilia in a dark room. Stepping out of the bathroom it was brought to her attention that the line was just _gone_. Not a single person was in sight and a walk down the halls proved her assumption that something was not right here.

She was confused and slightly frightened but forced herself to stay calm, which was proving to be a more difficult task by the minute. Normally being a very placid person it was rare for Cecilia to loose her composure and she wasn't planning to change that any time soon. _Deep breathes Cecilia, just like mother taught you_. The hallway just seemed to get longer and darker by the minute until it finally came to a stop at a set a of stairs. She wasn't quite sure if descending these stairs was a good idea. Mulling over all of her options she decided that this might be her only chance to figure out what was going on.

_ Please, please,** please** let this just be a dream, once I reach the bottom I'll just wake up in my nice warm bed. None of this silly gallery stuff has happened. I'm dreaming its as simple as that._

The steps led to a hallway with a small table holding a vase with a single green rose in it. Something compelled Cecilia to pick it up and place it in her breast pocket, the little flower gave her some amount of peace knowing that at least something seemed to be alive in this place. Continuing down the hall she stumbled across a room with many paintings hanging on the walls. She recognized most of them from the gallery and only a few were ones she hadn't seen before. On the right side of the room there was a single dark door. Her legs got her over to it quickly only to discover it was locked. Sighing in frustration she searched the room for some type of key.

After searching every nook and cranny of the room there was still no sign of the key. She was now ready to give up her search altogether and just wait to wake up from this damn nightmare. The only sign of a key in this room was a painting of the lady in red with a key dangling around her neck. At first it struck her as odd seeing as the same painting in the gallery had no such thing included in it but this whole experience was rather odd so she just brushed it off. Cecilia ran her fingers across the painting in contemplation, her fingers suddenly felt something cold to the touch. Snapping out of her revere she gripped the key and and gave it a tug. It landed gently in her hands and she smiled slightly.

Turning on her heel towards the door, she was ready to leave this room. Her walk towards the door was interrupted though by the sound of a crash and a thump. She jerked her head to look behind her, she was met with the sight of the lady in red painting crawling towards her at an alarming rate. The painting gripped her by the ankle causing her to fall to the ground. The painting clawed at her leg, Cecilia kicked and struggled to get away from it. Finally breaking away from it she hopped to her feet and and fumbled with the key. When the click of the lock could be heard she rushed to get the door open. The lady in red was fast approaching and was only a few inches away from her.

Having gotten the door open Cecilia swiftly moved through the opening and slammed the door.

Glancing down at her legs she took in to account the various cut and scratches from where she was grabbed. A small amount of red liquid ran down to her ankles wiping the liquid away with her hands, she flinched somewhat from the contact leaving a stinging sensation, she brought a hand to her face. The liquid was blood, **her blood.**

One thought rang clear in Cecilia's mind and it frightened her to even think about it.

_**This wasn't a dream.**_


	2. Chapter 2

A million thoughts ran through Cecilia's head. Her heart beat increased and she began to feel light headed. She's never been this scared or worried, and the feeling was already hated by her. A feeling of helplessness ran through her, accompanied by the nagging thought that this was real and now all hopes of waking up had all but disappeared. This thought kept on resurfacing and wasn't doing anything to help her already fool mood.

Cecilia took a deep breath and forced the negative thought aside. Even if she wouldn't magically wake up, a way out could and would be found, she promised herself this. Taking one more deep breath she regained her composure and continued down the hall, ready to put this entire thing behind her.

* * *

She was in a room that was entirely gray. The only sources of other colors were two painting on opposite sides of the room, labeled grieving bride and grieving groom. Seeing the room to be nothing of importance Cecilia made her way towards the opening to a larger space. She took a quick check of her surroundings for any immediate danger. Nothing was making its way towards her and the room was devoid of the lady paintings. Going to her left she found a hallway filled with...eyes...this did not seem like a safe place to travel at the moment. She immediately turned around to the center of the room and moved down the path way that was there.

Stopping in front of a door on her left she went to grab the knob but was interrupted by the door opening. She jumped back at the movement and was met with a startled shriek instead of anything dangerous. In front of her there were two people, one a young man and the other a young girl. Cecilia blinked her eyes at the two still a bit surprised by their sudden appearance.

The man with oddly colored hair spoke up first out of the three " Are...are you another from the gallery"?

Cecilia was quick to answer " Yes I am. So does that mean you were also viewing the gallery when you ended up here. Do you have any idea why your here"?

The man nodded " Yes we were and to be honest I don't have the foggiest idea why were here".

She was somewhat disappointed by his answer, hoping he could put some amount of input in the situation. "Oh alright then...I'm Cecilia by the way".

He smiled " Well I am Garry and this is Ib". He gestured towards the brown haired girl next to him. " And you're welcome to come with us".

It didn't take long for Cecilia to accept the proposal. " I think I might just take you up on that offer". She glanced to the little girl who hadn't said anything through the whole exchange. " If it's okay with your companion that is".

Ib perked up at this comment, while Cecilia looked at her expectantly. She looked Cecilia up and down, then back at her face. " It's alright if you come, I don't mind".

Cecilia gave her a small smile and a pat on the head. " So what exactly have you found out about this room"? She looked towards Garry for an answer.

" Well not much...we did just find some eye drops and there is a maze like room with a bunch of walking statues inside, we decided to leave that room alone for now, so we should probably check this direction". Garry pointed to the right of the door.

Cecilia shook her head in understanding" Alright then lets get a move on".

The pathway reached a dead end in front of a painting that was of a very off putting face. He was asking for flowers and in return he would give you passage to..well somewhere. He persistently asked for Ib's rose which Garry wholeheartedly disagreed with the idea. He pulled her away from the painting he started back down the hall.

" Oh speaking of roses...do you have a rose, Cecilia"? He turned to look at her.

Cecilia caught up with them and pulled her rose out of her vest's pocket. " Yes I do have a rose, I found it as soon as I ended up in the gallery. Why? Whats so important about it"?

Garry looked surprised " Well the rose is connected to you. If the rose wilts you wilt, If you come to harm the rose comes to harm". He then took the rose from Cecilia's hand " See a few petals are missing from it. We should find a vase to return it back to health". Garry handed back the rose, which was then held more tightly in Cecilia's hand.

" I...didn't know it had so much importance...if must of lost petals when I encountered the lady in red..". She mumbled the last part to her self but Ib and Garry both heard it.

Ib went up to her and tugged at her sleeve, snapping her out of her thoughts " You've been chased by the painting to? Did It hurt you"? Ib asked with a curious expression on her face.

Cecilia peeked down at her " Hmmm..Oh yes I unfortunately was". She paused " And it did not even leave a scratch on me so no need to worry Ib".

Ib frowned " Then what happened to your legs"? Cecilia quickly looked down at the deep gashes down at her legs.

" I guess it did hurt me but there is still no need to worry"!

Garry shook his head " It seemed to do quite the number on you". He grabbed her hand, " Come on there is a vase just down here that should take care of the problem".

Garry and Ib dragged her to vase. Garry motioned for her to hand him her rose, once he received it he stuck it in the vase with water. A warm sensation over came Cecilia and the aching her legs were gone, she glanced down to see that they were healed and nothing gave away that she was previously injured there.

" I don't know whether I should be reassured by this or more worried".

Garry grinned " Well you get used to it after awhile". He glanced down the hall " We should probably find where these eye drops belong, there is a hallway with eyes just over here, it might give us a hint".

Cecilia sighed it looked like she would have to face the unsettling hall sooner then later. The small group headed in its direction, after a quick sweep of the hallway they were about to give up. Until Ib came across an eye that looked dry and irritated, she took the eye drops from her pocket and dropped a few on the eye. It blinked a few times then slowly moved to a part of the wall. Cecilia gave the wall a few taps and it revealed an opening. They walked in the small room , at the end of the room there was a small glass red ball.

Garry picked it up and stuffed it in his coat pocket, ever little thing proved to help in the gallery and he would rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it. The group quickly left the small enclosed space and continued their search. They searched every painting on the walls, finally coming across a painting of a snake that seemed to have the perfect sized slot for the small glass ball. Garry slid the ball in the slot but nothing seemed to happen. He stepped away from painting he then jumped at the sound of a painting crashing to the ground.

Cecilia walked towards it and rummaged through the shards. On the back of the there were the simple message behind the tree written on it. _Tree what tree?! Hopefully we'll find this so called "tree"_

_soon. _

" What does it say"? Garry questioned.

Cecilia stood up " It says behind the tree". She paused " But I don't know if there's a tree any where around here".

Garry's face brightened at her words " Oh Ib do you think it could be that tree in the room we unlocked before we met Cecilia"?

Ib nodded her head. Cecilia looked at them curiously, the only room that she hadn't been is was the one by the vase. Ib grabbed Garry's hand and made her way down the hall to the door. Cecilia followed close behind them. They then entered the door and walked towards the tree. On the floor behind it there was a small wedding band.

Garry looked at the ring in his hand " A wedding ring"?

" Wasn't there two hands at the beginning of the room labeled grieving bride". Cecilia spoke up hoping to be helpful.

" Ah you're right there was". Garry perked up. " Well come on lets go".

Once they reached the hands Garry went towards the one on the left side of the room and slipped the ring on it ring finger. The painting of the bride threw her bouquet in return and Ib picked it up.

Ib tugged at Cecilia's skirt to catch her attention " Wasn't that painting back there hungry...should we feed him these flowers"? Ib looked up at her with questioning eyes.

Cecilia smiled down at her " Yeah that's a great idea Ib".

Garry smiled also " Come on Ib lets put your idea in to action".

When they reached the painting Ib threw the bouquet in its mouth. It munched on it for a bit before a loud swallowing sound was heard. The painting then turned black, allowing them passage to another part of the gallery. Cecilia looked at the two people in front of her happy to have someone else with her in this horrible place.


	3. Chapter 3

Cecilia hated this part of the gallery. It was cold and unsettling, with an abundance of statues and lady paintings. It made her uncomfortable and a bit more paranoid than usual. Her legs ached from all the running that was required to stay alive.

Then there was the riddles. She despised the riddles.

Garry and Ib proved to be pleasant company, but at this point Cecilia would agree that any thing actually living was pleasant company at this time. They were a bit odd though, Garry had feminine patterns of speech and Ib liked to stay quite. Her heart went out to the small girl who was probably going through the most terrifying thing in her life, at such a young age she had to be subjected to the cruel workings of the gallery.

At the moment the group was recently using a key that they had gotten in one of the rooms. With a turn of the handle Garry opened the door quickly, knowing that the ladies could not open doors by their self, hoping to rest for a bit. The room was decent sized with a small couch in the center, various book shelves, and a large painting of a man and a women. Ib then promptly walked up to the painting her eyes glazing over slightly. Cecilia's brows furrowed in concern for the young girl, she stepped forward to question her but was beaten to it by Garry.

" Ib are you okay"? Garry placed a hand on her shoulder.

Ib glanced up him and slowly shook her yes. " I'm fine Garry". Her voice broke slightly.

Cecilia stood by Ib's side " Ib you know that if anythings bothering you you can tell us"?

Ib nodded " Yeah I know...". She looked back at the painting, then spoke softly " These are my parents".

Cecilia and Garry shared surprised looks. Looking more closely at the painting they could see hints of family resemblance. Cecilia felt her heart ache, Ib was unsettled by the painting. She patted Ib's back and ushered her towards the door, believing that the painting would only upset the girl further.

She grabbed the handle and twisted only to discover that it was locked. A look a panic crossed her face as she called Garry over.

" Garry I believe that the door is locked". She said in an even tone that was getting hard to keep.

Garry briskly went towards the door and jiggled the handle. His eyes showed panic but he quickly dismissed the feeling and stepped away from the door. " Well...there must be another way out of here". He scanned the room spotting a window. It looked easy enough to break and might be their only means of escape but before he could voice his opinion a banging sound could be heard outside.

Cecilia listened to the walls closely, figuring out that the sound was coming directly outside the room. Garry looked at her curiously wondering what she was doing.

Sensing his question she gave him an answer " I'm trying to see what diretion this noise is coming from". Her brows furrowed " And it seems that the source is right out side of the room." Her heart beat sped up as the sound got louder and more frequent.

" This can't be a good thing". Garry's expression turned sour. " We should find a way out". The noise got louder " And fast".

They stepped away from the wall and searched, only to be interrupted by the sound of the window shattering as a Lady came barreling through it. A small jolt of panic went through Cecilia but she pushed the feeling down to the back of her mind. Panicking would not help her get out of here. The wall then crumbled down to reveal another Lady, her attempts at keeping calm were starting to fail her as they dodged the Ladies flooding in the room only to be greeted by the gallery having gone to total hell.

Statues were wondering around and all of the once idle Ladies were out for blood. Garry quickly grabbed a hold of Ib and Cecilia and dragged them towards the door that hadn't been open. There was a small chance that the door would remain locked but they were willing to take it. Only thoughts of survival went through their heads as they finally reached the door. The small group dashed down the hallway, trying to find a place to escape. When they reached the end of the hall they collapsed on to the ground, breathing and panting in an attempt to get the air back in their lungs.

Cecilia was the first one to catch her breath, she stood up and leaned against the wall. A million thoughts ran through her head and not one of them was pleasant. She had almost died. Again. She didn't know why she was so shaken up about it this time. Its not like the gallery was pleasant and she had almost met her demise on more then one occasion. This time felt different though, the chances of surviving that encounter had been so very small but she made it and she wasn't sure if she was happy about that. One thing she was sure about was that she wanted to cry.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Garry tapped her shoulder and pointed to a door to the end of the hall. She glanced towards it then nodded her head. Her chest felt heavy and she had to fight back tears as they walked. They opened the door then stepped inside of the small room that it held. Once they were in the room though Ib came crashing to the ground. Cecilia rushed to help her up but Ib appeared to be asleep.

Garry looked at the girl sleeping softly, he took her from Cecilia and laid her down in a corner of the room. He took off his coat and draped it around the young girl. He smiled towards her and spoke up " She must be tired with all the running around we've done. Maybe we should get some rest as well".

Cecilia agreed with him on that but she was slightly afraid to go to sleep because of all the new nightmares it would bring. Garry tossed her a concerned look at her lack of answer. "Are you okay Cecilia you seem to be awfully quite".

She gave him a weak smile " I'm fine just thinking is all".

* * *

He didn't seem to believe her entirely but he dropped the subject. Cecilia then found a remote corner of the room and closed her eyes waiting for sleep to come.

She was in a dark corridor and she didn't remember how she had gotten there. Her mind was hazed over and the purpose of finding out where or why she was here was the only motivation that moved her towards the end of it. She wasn't completely blind because it gave off just enough light to see what was in front of you.

As she moved down the hall soft sobs could be heard. They sounded a little familiar to her but she just couldn't place why. She picked up her pace to find the source of them. The sobs got louder and louder until finally the source of them was right in front of her. A small feminine figure was curled up in to a fetal position, her small body was shaking. A suspicious liquid surrounded her and stained her pretty white dress. Her red hair clung to her face. She looked familiar.

Then it clicked.

It was Sophie.

Sophie was in front of her crying, bloodied and bruised. Cecilia dropped down to her knees and scooped the girl up in her arms.

" ...Why...Ciel..Why did this have to happen..Why...Why...Why." Sophie sobbed and wrapped her arms around her.

Cecilia choked on her words " I don't know Sophie, I don't know". She gave her a squeeze "..But I promise you that I'll get you out of here..I promise".

Sophie gave her a soft smile " You can't Ciel. How could you save me when you can barely save yourself".

By this time tears were streaming down Cecilia's face. " Don't say that...I promise I will".

Sophie took Cecilia's hands in hers " I'm already gone. Can't you see that"? Her grip on her hands loosened and her breathing became softer and softer.

" No you can't leave me Sophie! Please don't leave me here. I'm lost without you". Cecilia's gripped tightened around her only to notice that her breathing had stopped altogether.

She was then brought back to reality by the feeling of a hand on her shoulder.

She groggily opened her eyes to see Garry giving her a concerned look. " Cecilia are you alright...you must have been having a nightmare".

The dream replayed in her head.

And then she broke down.

She cried about everything and anything. All the way to her low chances of survival to how she missed Sophie so much. Garry was surprised to see the normally quite and reserved girl break in to tears but even if he was surprised he still gave her the comfort he would give anyone in this situation. He patted her back and let her get all of the crying out of her system. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

After she finished crying she peeled her head of his shoulder and have him a grateful look. He gave her a soft smile and a small pat on the back " Do you want to talk about it"?

So she did. She poured her heart out to him. And the weight of her chest felt nice.


End file.
